Caravan Carnivale

Episode Eighteen

It's a Rigged System

10

OCT/16

Returning to Nyburn’s workshop after one last pass through Hexum’s manor, the party delivered the Logic Engine. Nyburn was confounded by what he saw – an amalgam of his own work and that of other prominent tinkerers and engineers. Recognizing that the device in front of him would more than satisfy his Ebregoi investors, but unwilling to unethically profit from the work of his compatriots without their partnership, he asked the party to sail on ahead to Ebregos as messengers on his behalf.

During the week-long voyage, the party checked back in with the Caravan, interrogating Melchiore – now able to animate the wooden body of the Sir Egg doll he’d been transferred to – though not reaching any real satisfying results. Lusus made friends with the sailing crew, and learned a bit about Ebregoi current affairs.

Arriving, the party sought out the patrician family who’d invested in Nyburn’s invention. After a snotty encounter with the villa’s chamberlain, the lord of the house happened by and began conversation in earnest with the party. After discovering him to be a pretty cool guy, Alsahiir risked exposing his identity – a revelation that was met favorably and resulted in the party learning the story of Ebregos’ descent into organized crime and dictatorship under the corrupt Prince Asad abn-Aldhib.

Upon mentioning the Caravan Carnivale, the nobleman displayed curious surprise, revealing that a package had arrived just days prior addressed to the Caravan. The party opened the box to discover the severed and slightly dessicated head of Victol Bayar, along with a greeting card containing the message “Thinking of You”.

The head held a plastic ring between its lips, tied to a string that pulled on a spring-wound recording drum. The recording appeared to present the Provost hectoring an unknown listener about their lack of significance – deduction led the party to understand that the person being spoken to was Erich Schreiner. Another pull of the string produced a different recording – this one pointed directly at the party and serving as an invitation to enter the Akademion as guests.

The party endeavored to work towards undermining the Ebregoi government; first by planting rumors in the local populace about the return of Alsahiir, and the possibility that he is not the traitor that twenty years of propaganda have labeled him as. Lusus joined a local crime syndicate as an enforcer in order to infiltrate. Finally, the party discussed options with like-minded nobles keen on deposing Prince Asad, and it was decided that the next step would be to investigate and hopefully liberate Princess Zamarrid, sequestered in the Queen’s Palace in the countryside – and rumored long dead among the noble courtesans.

Also, Lolth reached out to her father, which ended just as badly as it always does.